The present invention relates to communications networking, and more specifically, to a method, system, and computer program product for autonomous management of a communication network.
Networking sites such as Facebook®, LinkedIn®, and Match.com® provide the ability for individuals to associate and/or collaborate with other individuals over a network. These, and other, networking sites typically involve a community of users who share some common purpose (e.g., business/professional, social, goal-oriented—such as eDiets.com®, etc.). Various networking sites rely on users to be the vehicle of growth for the community; that is, the sites rely on factors such as the level of active engagement by individuals in the community, word of mouth, advertising, and other forms of communication in order to provide awareness of the system's existence. This can often lead to unbalanced growth within niche markets, resulting in large networks that are not very diverse in population. Take for example, social networking systems, such as Facebook® and MySpace®. These networks have grown very large, but are focused and segmented, becoming very popular among teenage and young adults. This may be a direct result of relying on a natural organic way of growing the network, in which the users of the community promote the growth. Networking sites that are not able to effectively maintain interest, e.g., lacking in diversity of members and information, may not be able to sustain, as the information and population becomes stale over time.
What is needed, therefore, is a network management system and services that enable autonomous growth and change through discovering and analyzing connections (communications) between registered and unregistered (unknown but identifiable) users in a communication network, and is thereby capable of providing diversity of user population and subject matter.